I just realised that I've been throwing all my words onto a different site recently which is why it's been a bit quiet around here.

As my car related ramblings had started to take over this site I thought it best to give them a home of their own. And then I thought others might want to do the same thing, and so Owners Diary was born

http://www.ownersdiary.co.uk

Whilst the entries at the moment are car related, there's no reason why other vehicles can't be included. The idea is to also have it remind you when things like MOT and insurance are due, once I get the basics sorted.

It's in closed beta at the moment, but please drop me a mail/tweet/comment/facebook post if you'd like an account to play with.

It's well known that looking up medical symptoms on the web is generally not a good idea as you inevitably discover that your symptoms are in fact signs of imminent death rather than the more likely minor condition.

For self confessed worriers like myself, I'd say this phenomena is even worse when looking up car issues to the extent that I seem to convince myself that I've got issues for which I've had no tangible symptoms!

For example; when having the alignment sorted out a few weeks back it was pointed out that the rubber bush at the outer end of the camber control arm needs replacing. I'm not entirely sure if that's the right name for it as the alignment guy didn't seem too sure. So I went online to see if I could find out what it was called and get a price for the bits.

In case any experts are reading this and are feeling kind enough to drop me a line to tell me, it's this bit:

After a surfing session I ended up convincing myself that I needed all manner of suspension bushes changing, some of which where a nightmare to to. ('Bushes' are the rubber bits that sit between a number of metal suspension bits to absorb movement.)

Having said that, it seems that upgrading from the standard rubber bushes to performance polyurethane ones can improve handling quite a bit. http://www.powerflex.co.uk/why_pu.php

So that's something else to add to the Christmas list whilst I continue my search for a name and price for the current issue-ette.

Update, a few weeks later..
Turns out it's called the 'lower control arm bush'. But it's still a confusing part as the local garage had trouble identifying it as they initially got sent the wrong parts.

Still, it's all replaced now and whilst the car was up on the ramp I thought it made sense to have both sides done, and to replace the eccentric bolts too.

And being the worrier that I am, I asked the guys to check for anything else under there that might need doing, seeing as the other bushes are in theory the same age, but they report everything is sorted and nothing else needs doing. Result!

After a few weeks of being more wary of the rain than a typical London commuter (another story), I've finally replaced the remnants of tyre that were covering my rear wheels.

Normally with my other cars this involves choosing a premium brand, having them fitted and driving away all happy and stuck to the road.

This time however I'm performing a little experiment by going with a not so premium brand. Don't get me wrong, they're not dodgy remoulds from a bloke in the pub who gets them from someone he knows 'in the trade', but they're not made of pure gold like the top of the range £230 per corner types either.

And seeing as I was feeling all sassy I've gone for a slightly lower profile too, mainly as this hugely increases the range of tyres available. The standard size is 255/40/18 on the rear, but these are 255/35/18.

For those who think that's a very strange date of birth, it's actually:

Tyre width in mm / side wall height (as a % of the width) /wheel diameter in inches.

Hopefully this blog entry will be useful to the many other M3 owners who wander through forums looking for comments about which tyres are good enough to keep you out of the hedge, but still affordable. (Note that I didn't say "cheap". You can't say that word when talking about owning an M3. About ANYTHING.) Also, if these tyres end up killing me, this post will serve as a very handy "don't do that" warning to others :-)

I've gone for Nexen N6000 tyres. I know, they're not well known, and that's mainly the point. I'm fed up of all the conflicting stories from M3 owners about how they found mid range tyres to be as good as the premium or how the mid range ones made their car feel broken.

Another reason for buying them was the cost for two, fitted was £187. Yup, for the pair. So I got a full alignment whilst I was there. Total cost, £214. That's less than the price of a single fancy-dan tyre.

Here's what the internet thinks of my choice:

Picture and more detail from http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Nexen/N6000.htm

Yes, I know they're not the best, but at a 3rd of the price of super whizzy tyres it's worth the experiment so I can at least know for certain that you do get what you pay for when stumping up the cash.

My reasoning is that I don't care about lifespan, as I only drive the car occasionally and I'm not too fussed about wet handling as I don't use it in the wet or if I do it'll just be coming home when caught out in it. Unless I happen to be on a track day when it rains in which case... whahaaaay!

On the short drive home I must say the car felt a little bit more squirmy than before, but then the last set where almost slicks and these ones have actual tread. See...

Also, you're supposed to let new tyres bed in for a bit until all the release agent (used to get them out of the moulds) has worn off, and to make sure they've settled on the rims nicely. Which reminds me.. I didn't reset the 'something wrong with one of the wheels' sensor thingy.

Oh no.. an excuse to go for a drive tomorrow.

I'll update this blog in a few hundred miles when I'll know if they're a bargain or grim reaper catnip.

Just over a month of M3 ownership now and I've finally had the chance to take it on a track day. It was an open pit lane day run by ClubMSV at Brands Hatch. Track days are usually run in sessions throughout the day, usually grouped by experience with say 20 for novices only, then 20 mins for intermediate and then another session for experienced drivers.

An open pit lane means that anyone can go out whenever they like as long as the track is open. On our day, the track was open from 0930 to 1700 with an hour off for lunch, and we could make whatever use of the track we wanted to during those times.

After registration (filling in forms and showing a drivers license) we had the drivers briefing where we were told what various cones meant, what the different coloured flags meant and how to get in and out of the track to buy petrol and what to do in case of a spin etc. (Stay in the car. Unless it's on fire in which case feel free to get out and run.) A show of hands showed that out of 27 drivers, only 3 were first timers. (I had done a track day before)

Next came the sighting laps where they took us out in groups of eight at a time to slowly follow a pace car around the track showing us the racing line and get used to driving around Brands Hatch. Sounds a bit pointless, but I found it very useful and it certainly help calm the nerves.

After the sighting laps we came back in and waited for the track to open. Then it was time. I headed out and did a warm up lap. Once the brave pill took effect and I got my foot down, I found a few things out. Firstly, the brakes are very easy to cook. After my first few hard laps I came in to find smoke pouring from the front discs accompanied by the same metal 'pinking' noise that our steam iron makes as it cools down. This apparently is not a good thing and it was suggested that I go for another couple of cooling down laps, which I promptly did.

It turns out that my sense of self preservation is partly to blame for the almost on fire brakes. Apparently track driving requires much more aggressive use of the brake than road use which equates to harder braking for a shorter period of time, which in turns reduces the amount of temperature build up. Being unused to emergency braking at every corner as I was, I was giving in to my subconscious and braking too early and not hard enough. But come on, I was still doing 120mph approaching a sign saying 'BRAKE!' followed by a blind apex and then hitting the brake pedal as hard as I though I could without flying backwards into the gravel. On fire.

Which in turn leads onto the rather comforting thing that I found out. I wuss out way before the car reaches its limits. The ABS only cut in once, during my best taking of Druids hairpin all day and the traction control only started kicking in near the end of the day when it was 30C out and the tyres were actually sticky to the touch.

Another thing I found out was that it's surprisingly knackering driving hard and fast. It probably wasn't helped by the fact it was a very hot day but by the end of the day I was a wreck. And even if I did turn the air con on, the car automatically turns it off when driving hard to ensure maximum power is available - cooool.

All in all it was a great day out, the car took it all in its stride and it turns out that the weakest part of my car is the driver! (But I think I'll still invest in some uprated brake pads)

Video
Here's a video of me doing a couple of laps. I can't believe how slow it looks! On the second lap I was doing about 120mph at the end of the straight, honest!

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9iXXuj4ETs]